Ducks' Gibson doesn't give up much, if anything

Questions came at John Gibson from all angles in the Ducks locker room Sunday, much like the shots he faced from the Kings up the freeway at Staples Center only hours before.

Each question was coolly taken in and then steered aside with economical effort. So were all those shots.

You would never know it if Gibson were truly excited over his feat Saturday night, becoming at 20 years and 330 days the youngest goalie in NHL history to record a shutout in his playoff debut.

His 28-save effort in a 2-0 Game 4 win to get the Ducks even in an increasingly compelling Western Conference second-round series could become the stuff of legend one day. Listening to him, it may as well have been a Tuesday night start in January.

“I just try to play my game,” Gibson said. “I don’t really try to do much other than that. The team played well in front of me and I try to play well for them.”

This is what we can figure out so far from the Ducks’ ballyhooed prospect that Coach Bruce Boudreau has never been shy about referring to as a star in the making. It will just take work to get Gibson to give up much.

On the ice. Off the ice.

• Have you watched the replay of the game? “No, not really. Not yet.”

• Was there a lot of adrenaline flowing on the ice? “I think you’re always excited. It was obviously my first playoff game so it was exciting.”

• How did Bruce tell you that he was starting you? “I don’t think I can really say when. He just told me I was playing and that was that.”

• How much does your self-confidence play into your game? “I don’t know. I think you just go out there and you play the way you play.”

• Were you ready for all the interest from the media? “You just got to deal with it. It’s all part of the process and part of being a pro hockey player.”

There were other topics that Gibson answered unfailingly — but all with little mental exertion. Handling the pressure of a Stanley Cup playoff game and how his success on the international stage helped prepare him. Getting interested in goaltending and the netminders he looked up to. Leaving the Kings frustrated.

Growing up around Pittsburgh and being among a group of area players — Brandon Saad, J.T. Miller and Vince Trocheck — who are making their way in the NHL makes him smile. As well as putting on the gear when he was “probably 6, somewhere around there” and catching the hockey bug after going to Penguins games.

And then the goalie, not long after finishing his session with reporters, was whistling as he strolled through the dressing room. He also threw a sly grin toward Sami Vatanen’s direction as the defenseman fielded inquiries about their new star.

The grin was a hint of personality that exists. But it also appears, at least for now, that Gibson is only going to show you what he wants to show you.

Kind of like what he offers in goal.

“He has a pretty unique style in the net,” Ducks winger Andrew Cogliano said. “You don’t really know where he’s weak for the most part when you’re coming in on him. He doesn’t show you a lot of the net.

“He’s one of those goalies where he sometimes gives you a little bit of something and then takes it away.”

Rickard Rakell knows that all too well. Back in the Ontario Hockey League, Rakell’s Plymouth Whalers team lost a seven-game playoff series to Gibson’s Kitchener Rangers.

“We had a really good team and we were supposed to beat them but we couldn’t score on them,” Rakell said. “It was kind of like yesterday. We outshot Kitchener but we couldn’t score.

“He was a big part of that. He’s a good goaltender.”

It was proved night after night this season in the American Hockey League. In his first pro season, Gibson powered an often offense-challenged Norfolk Admirals team into the playoffs and then lifted them to a first-round win over Manchester (N.H.), the Kings’ affiliate.

Rakell was a regular witness in Norfolk. So was Devante Smith-Pelly. Gibson’s playoff shutout might have the hockey world talking but it isn’t shocking to the Ducks winger.

“I saw it on a daily basis all year, so it didn’t come as a surprise for me,” Smith-Pelly said. “He had six shutouts and probably had 35-plus shots in a couple of them, I think. Nights like those are nothing new, when I look at it.”

The hype has flowed around Gibson since he carried Team USA to the 2013 world junior gold medal in Russia and then stepped in for Ben Bishop to help lift the Americans to bronze months later at the IIHF World Championships in Sweden.

Gibson made his NHL debut April 7 and shut out Vancouver. He also beat San Jose and Colorado, leading Boudreau to consider going with him to start the playoffs before settling on Frederik Andersen.

With Andersen hurt and veteran Jonas Hiller pushed to backup status, the Ducks’ net belongs to Gibson for Game 5 on Monday night. And it just might stay his for the next decade, with Boudreau comparing Gibson’s ultra-cool demeanor to that of Montreal’s Carey Price.

“He came up and fit right in,” Ducks defenseman Ben Lovejoy said. “But (Saturday) night was truly something special. He did exactly what we’ve heard he does. He just stopped everything.

“He made the routine save look easy. He made the difficult save every time. It was so fun to play in front of him. I think we are so lucky to have a guy like that come in and win a playoff game for us.”

NOTES

Boudreau said Andersen (leg) and left wing Matt Beleskey (lower body) won’t be available for Game 5 but center Mathieu Perreault (lower body) is a game-time decision. Perreault did not play Saturday.